If you could make a console what would it do?

[deanb]

So say hypothetically you find yourself head of a console R&D team and tasked with making a console, what features (regardless of potential profitability, but you could do that if you wanted) would you give it?

 

 

On the hardware front I can't see myself straying too far from the PS3 formula. An updated Cell at it's heart(it's a nifty processor, and learning curve no longer exists), but with an improved GPU and much more RAM. I'd want like 4GB at least. I'd stick with the formula of user replaceable laptop hard drives too. I'd like start with a base model of 160GB, standard 500GB and a premium 1TB model (can always expand as gen progresses). Blu-Ray drive, also upgraded to the newer speeds too. Should still be good enough even for next gen.

 

Output to be HDMI. Maybe Dual-HDMI, be neat to have multi-monitor play, or maybe just have second for sound. Could be exceedingly niche though. I won't bother with composite or component connections, pointless by that point and saves having to support SD resolutions. Ethernet and Wi-fi too. I'd make sure the OS can remember more than one wi-fi point too. Stupid PS3. I know moving your console to other folks houses isn't overly common (more so than dual-TVs though) but it's something that shouldn't be too hard to add into the OS. Put a couple USB3 ports on the back and 4 or so on the front. The front ones to be powered too, so controllers can charge when console is off.

 

For controllers I'd maybe go with something like the OnLive controller (I'll get to why later), with support for a Move-like controller, just a bit less calibration happy. I think Wii-Fit has its place too, so support for gaming scales too. Maybe some way to use your phones keyboard too. kb/m is useful for the non-gaming side of consoles, but having a kb/m on hand is annoying. But we do have our phones and typing on those isn't super quick but can be quicker than a controller.

 

On the OS side I'd have a bespoke OS built specifically for the console to extract maximum juiciness out of it, but I'd have it able to run stuff within a VM-ish environment for nice n safe homebrew, maybe Android-ified to provide familiarity (As well as allow devs to really stretch their legs on "what could we do with a many-teraflop device"). I wouldn't have Linux though. Too fiddly n pointless tbh.

I'd have the console capable of recording gameplay, maybe do it a bit like Sky+ so it's recording the past hour or so of footage anyway (maybe more if you toggle settings) to allow you to either go and edit this footage later, or at any time push a button on remote and have it permanently save the last 5 minutes/level/mission of footage to easily edit within the console and then push it to youtube. I think that'd be a pretty important feature to have. Share your epic moments. Maybe even build in streaming, though disable it for MP matches and only for use in-games. Oh and the tech disc with it I'd probably have a machinima game/app.

 

I'd see about having multiple stores too. I'd have the manufacturers official store(and make it front and centre) but you'd also be able to have an Amazon store, and maybe Impulse, Origin, n such too. Oh and Onlive support too. The usual video n music services too.

 

In-game manuals and guides. Maybe wikia/youtube quick access too to be able to hit up walkthroughs n what not. Maybe have it intelligently scan what part of the game you're up to and offer up relevant wikia articles and YT videos. Oh and do Save-States too. Have it as a "at your own risk" type feature (As in maybe don't do it when you're mid-way through a racing lap and likely to crash on load). You've got plenty HDD space, should be able to use it. Smartglass is neat, probably bolt on something like that, even if it's just PDFs of game manuals for use on your phone/tablet. Though I'd expect something cooler than flat PDFs.

 

On the networking side of things you should be able to mark yourself as "looking for a game". Oh and I'd have a companion app so you can check your friends, and set yourself as "lfg" without having to have the console booted up and idling. And check achievements and such with it. Oh achievements would be just that, no gamer points or anything. Just a neat way to say "completed challenge x", and got to part a b n c of the game. Also can set nicknames for players and other notes like "met while playing ACIV MP". I'd want a thing like the Steam Community stuff too, so be able to have a quick feed of friends activity, and proper profile pages too with quick access to see their owned games, cheeves, wishlists, videos n screenshots etc. And the ability to form groups. A "Feats" mechanic too. Not quite like achievements, but able to post particular stats you're proud of to your profile, like getting through 23 waves on your own, or getting a 10:1 KD ratio. Maybe even have it so people can "challenge" these feats and that'd be added on your profile like "XxXgamerXxX challenged this feat and got a 12:1 KD ratio".

 

Probably a few other stuff too. Dunno why I'm posting this. For fun and to get some thoughts down I guess.

 

What would you do?

[madbassman39]

I like a lot of your ideas. I would go with something very vita like, except it has a dock connected to your tv, and in that dock would be more memory additional hardware to make the device perform like a modern high end computer. Pull it off the dock and tada a device where you can truely bring your games with you. In order to do this ofcourse you would have to rely on solely digital download and I too would allow services on my system.

 

The controller would be usable when in portable mode, but it would have face buttons too. My controller would be like the xbox controller. In box video capture is a must and so would multitasking allowing you to play your music when ever.

 

The system would come with upgradeable harddrive options but would use solid state due to the portability option, and would be awesome

[Vecha]

I'd want to keep the component...right now, I'm able to play my PS3 only because there is a component output...the HDMI fried itself...so either keep component..or dual HDMI for a backup. Or make it where it won't break...ever.

 

 

Anyways...I'm not outright against the Cell...I just feel keeping the system as close as possible to the PC is the better bet.

 

I hope consoles have at least 4GB of RAM, if not more.

 

Would love to see a SSD drive in there.

[TheMightyEthan]

The only thing I'd change about your system Dean is more RAM and keep composite and component output. Not everyone has HDTVs yet.

[deanb]

Enough do. And as I said there's little care on profitability. Don't forget the xbox came with broadband when most(if they had internet) were on 56k. HDMI only would mean you don't have issues like the unreadable text issues some games came with this gen. Reduces parts, fw complexity and the devs only need to target 720p n up.

 

 

I forgot in first post but 3D would be in at console level. All games would support it.

[TheMightyEthan]

I'm not worried about profitability, but I would like to maximize the audience.

[CorgiShinobi]

As of right now, what with my second YLOD, I don't know the exacts of my own console other than I would have everyone working their tails off to make sure we don't cut our costs in components that regulation internal cooling performance.

 

Seriously, of what I've read, a 19-blade* fan is 150% than a 15-blade fan.

 

So, you know, put in a bunch of fancy things if we can, but make sure these things don't cause excessive heating in any concentrated area.

 

*PS3s use to have 19-blade fans, but supposedly when the manufacturing was transferred to China, the fans were downgraded to 15-blade.

[fuchikoma]

Generally there's not a lot I would change... CPUs are going in a good direction, as are GPUs, both multi-core and very capable.

 

I'd like to see a console with insane RAM though, like at least 16GB, maybe 64GB. Why? Procedural generation. I'd like to see more engines that have less load time, more computation time upfront, generating assets from algorithms, allowing things like fractal or other algorithmic textures that don't get fuzzy when you move in closer - they just compute for the current view - sort of mipmapping to the nth degree. Such RAM would also allow for things like

engines with a wide enough array of resources to make a decent game world instead of seeing the same handful of objects repeating a lot. It would also be nice to see games like GTA able to store whole cities using much less disc space, maybe enabling much larger areas to explore by simply using instructions to generate them instead of storing it verbatim. You could actually consider making a city-sized city instead of chaining together a handful of neighbourhoods and calling it a day (or at least weighing it as a viable option... it can get pretty tedious in OFP/ARMA, driving into the next town to do something.)